Rental Discrimination Against…Children?
A pending class-action lawsuit against New York City rental agency Brown Harris Stevens is the first I’ve ever heard of. They are being sued for discriminating against families with children. Jamie Katz and Lisa Nocera were the first to notice something amiss as apartment after apartment, they heard from their rental broker that the owners of desirable apartments could not rent to kids because of lead paint in the property.
Going with their guts that something was amiss, they contacted their lawyers, and with nonprofit organization, the Fair Housing Justice Center’s involvement, sent undercover would-be tenants to the agency. One reported they had children and one did not. The one with child were discouraged from viewing certain properties while one without had no troubles viewing any properties.
The suit seeks to order Brown Harris Stevens, one of the city’s most respected rental firm, to train its brokers to “comply with the law”, as well as payment for unspecified damages to the couple. But the broker who had shown the properties deny any wrongdoing.
The original article on NY Times cites examples of many Craigslist ads specifying “no kids” in their terms, which is in violation of federal and state laws. It would be very interesting to see what the outcome of this lawsuit will be, and whether a ruling for the couple will make an impact on the rampant discrimination against families with children going on today.
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Sage says...
What about discrimination against the property owners? You should be able to rent or not rent to whom you choose. The government does not pay for the property, you do. Let the parents go purchase their own property. The Fair Housing Act is not fair at all, & was passed because so few landlords would rent to children. They are very destructive. Far more so than pets.
To Sage says...
Property Owners? First of all if you cannot handle what comes with Renting out Property then don’t do it. Second of all, I in fact have two children and was just discriminated against (one excuse was that she didn’t think it would be good since there was an older couple that just moved in downstairs). Honestly a tenant should not rent a downstairs apartment if they cannot handle what may move in upstairs (assuming my children would be too loud for them). I, in fact, have strict rules in my house and stick by them whether I am above someone or not, there is no reason I should be discriminated against for the few that are not as respectful to others. Not to mention I have never had any complaints about my children and I have lived in a few different upstairs apartments (over eight years now). Also, honey some people either do not have the option to purchase a property or just choose not to. Lastly, I have even had a couple compliments that they have never seen a place as clean as I have cleaned them when I moved out.